The Powerpuff Girls (1998 TV series)
Powerpuff Girls is an Emmy award-winning American animated TV series about three five-year-old girls in kindergarten who have superpowers. Created by animator Craig McCracken, the program was produced by Hanna-Barbera until 2001 when Cartoon Network Studios took over production for Cartoon Network. The series is a spoof on American superheroes as well as Japanese Tokusatsu heroes like Super Sentai (adapted in America as the Power Rangers). As is typical in McCracken's work, the show also makes heavy use of references to older pop culture, particularly the famous English musical group The Beatles. In 2002, the series was made into a feature film. The animation director is Genndy Tartakovsky, of Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack fame, who also directed many of the show's episodes himself. Overview Powerpuff Girls revolves around the adventures of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup,three toddlers with super powers. The plot of a typical episode is some humorous variation of standard superhero and/or tokusatsu fare, with the girls using their powers to defend their town from various villains, such as bank robbers, mad scientists, aliens, or giant monsters. In addition, the girls also have to deal with normal issues young kids face, such as bed wetting or dependence on a security blanket. The series is one in a long line of cartoons that derives a great deal of humor from pop culture references and parody. There is often a particular emphasis on cultural phenomenons and art styles from the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. For instance, the characters' dialogue often contain allusions to various classic rock and pop songs from these eras; there was even an entire episode whose dialogue consisted almost solely of lyrics from Beatles songs, while the episode's plot was a loose retelling of the Beatles career (featuring the show's villains in roles alluding to the original band members). The show even once or twice, made references to Star Wars(espically in the episodes "Boogie Frights" and "Beat Your Greens") The show has a highly stylized, minimalistic visual look, reminiscent of 1950s and '60s pop art. Movie critic Bob Longino of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution praised the style in his review of The Powerpuff Girls Movie by saying that "the intricate drawings emanate 1950s futuristic pizazz like a David Hockney scenescape", and that The Powerpuff Girls is "one of the few American creations that is both gleeful pop culture and exquisite high art".Longino, B. "The Powerpuff Girls Movie." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. http://www.accessatlanta.com/movies/content/shared/movies/reviews/P/thepowerpuffgirlsmovie.html The show has been hailed for showing young girls as active and capable heroines. However, it has also come under criticism for its rather excessive violence (including images of characters gushing blood from their mouths when hit), and for what have been perceived as morally questionable actions on part of the main characters, such as sometimes using more brutal force than necessary.Nechak, P. "Violence overpowers 'Powerpuff Girls'." 2002.http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/76964_powerpuff03q.shtml Setting The show mainly takes place in the fictional city of Townsville, USA. Townsville is depicted as a major American city, with an impressive cityscape consisting of several major skyscrapers. The physical location of Townsville has never been determined. Cities like LA, New York City, Paris, London, and Tokyo have been shown throughout the series. History Craig McCracken, a student of California Institute of the Arts, created The Whoopass Girls in 1992 in his short film The Whoopass Girls in A Sticky Situation. Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation selected the short in 1993; McCracken submitted it to Hanna-Barbera's innovative What A Cartoon! shorts program (eventually to be produced for Cartoon Network as "The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumkins" as part of World Premiere Toons) while working on Dexter's Lab. As the word "whoopass" was deemed inappropriate for younger audiences, the word was replaced by "powerpuff." . Used on issued related products. This logo is not used for the intertitle.]] ''Powerpuff Girls TV debut in 1998 was the highest rated premiere in Cartoon Network's history. For several seasons, the series consistently scored the highest rating each week for the network across a wide range of demographics -- from young children to adults. In October 1998, Cartoon Network credited the Powerpuff Girls for its Friday night prime time ratings win among cable networks. By 2001, merchandising based on The Powerpuff Girls encompassed everything from T-shirts, toys and video games to lunchboxes and dishware. There was also a CD entitled Heroes and Villains, featuring original songs about the Powerpuff Girls characters by a number of artists, including the New Wave group Devo. Concerning the Powerpuff Girls success, Craig McCracken has stated "I thought it would get on Cartoon Network and college kids would watch it and there would be a few random T-shirts out there in the rave scene or in record shops. But I had no idea that it would take off to this extent." In April 2005, plans for an anime version, Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z were announced and the series premiered in Japan the following year. The series deviates highly from its American predecessor in terms of style, storyline, and characterization. Cartoon Network in the USA currently has no plans to air this show. Characters Opening and ending themes and sequences James L. Venable composed the opening theme of the series and Scottish band Bis performed the ending theme song, as played during the credits. Veteran announcer Ernie Anderson (more well known as "The Voice of ABC" in the 1970s and 80's) was the narrator of the pilot episode and would have likely continued to narrate. However, Anderson passed away in 2003, 6 years after the show became a series, which left the studio to hire voice actor and comedian Tom Kenny to be the series' narrator. Tom Kenny narrated the introduction, and also acted as narrator through the series era. The opening narration reads as follows: "Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girl. But Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction: Chemical X! Thus the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra super powers, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!" As the narration reveals, Professor Utonium created the girls out of sugar, spice, and everything nice, a reference to the nursery rhyme "What Are Little Boys Made Of?", plus the accidental addition of Chemical X. The opening of the series pays homage to the animated beginning of 1960s live-action television series, ''Batman'', as both shows feature a pan across a gallery of villains, with the animated heroes running toward the viewer while striking the villains, who are tossed away in slow motion. In the Japanese dub version, the first Opening Song, It's Up To You, was performed by The Brilliant Green, while the second Opening Song, Cream Puff Shuffle, performed by P.P.S. (Power Puff Soul). Episodes A total of 78 half hour episodes were broadcast, spanning across six seasons and one self-titled movie. There was also a Christmas episode that aired in 2003, and one episode that was never aired in the U.S. There was also an episode that was in production entitled "Deja View" that was turned into a Powerpuff Girls comic instead. The Powerpuff Girls Rule! On March 18, 2008, Tara Strong announced that there will be a second Powerpuff Girls movie in an interview with The Big Spoon. According to C' Raggio's blog, it will use Flash Animation. The movie's plot: The girls find out that the key to the world is coming to Townsville. The girls have hoped that the key will never come to Townsville because it gives the person who has it the right to rule the world. Every villain (except the Rowdyruff Boys) searches for the key in the town. The girls decide that they cant beat all the villains, so they look for the key themselves. They have no luck until Bubbles points out that the mayor is a complete idiot and probably left the key in his desk drawer. They race all the villains there and almost lose to Mojo Jojo. When Mojo Jojo loses the race he gives up with ruling the world and decides to be a normal citizen. The girls start to lose sight of what is important and decide that they want to rule the world with different ideas each. They start to fight over the key and all the villains show up and its a big fight with the girls winning. But then they start fighting each other for the key until they see all the townspeople looking down at them of how they look. The girls apologize and the Mayor takes the key and starts a speech. Mojo Jojo seeing his chance ask the mayor for the key and the mayor not paying attention gives it to him. Mojo Jojo starts to build his machine and puts the key into the machine. While the town is scared of what is about to happen Mojo turns the world into a happy place. Everyone is surprised of what Mojo Jojo wanted to do the whole time, including the girls. Then Mojo Jojo starts to get bored because there is nothing wrong with the world and starts to hate it. He starts to blow up the city, the girls go fight Mojo and it ends. The movie's airdate: 1/20/09. Awards The show has been nominated for an Emmy five times in 1999 & 2000 for "Outstanding Achievement in Animation". In 1999 the show won the Emmy for episode 1.09 - "Bubblevicious" & "The Bare Facts". In 1999 & 2000 the show also won Emmys, both juried for non-nominated selections. The show has also been nominated for an Annie award nine times, winning it twice. DVD releases The series has been released on VHS tape and DVD in Episode highlights, the Christmas Special, and seasonal DVD releases respectively, with the second season coming soon to the USA. There is also planned to be a complete series release coming on July 31st, 2009 to celebrate The Powerpuff Girls 10th anniversary. Successor None. References See also * The Powerpuff Girls Movie, a feature-length film * Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z, an anime spin-off External links * Official site * The Powerpuff Girls at the Big Cartoon DataBase